Cedar elm progress pics

[Ross]

These trees aren't ready for primetime, but I thought I'd post some pics to show what I've been up to. The first one should be ready for a pot when it's next repotted (spring 2017 probably.) The second one needs to be thinned out and reduced, and I need to add some more heavy wire to try and bend the apex to the left a bit. The third one was grown out in a mesh-side container for 2 years I think, at a totally different angle, and I was seriously pulling it out of the container to throw it away this year because I saw nothing in it and was sick of watering it. When I was about to toss it, I saw a different line, and decided to just go crazy on it. I hosed off all the roots, sawed it in half, and also sawed down the roots to squeeze it into the training pot. It responded well enough that I was able to basically style it for the first time last week. I need to keep tightening the guy-wires to bring the right side down. The dark spot on the bark is just wetness because it was just watered.

 

[M. Frary]

Nice! Love the bark on these.
Those would be very good candidates for the Ulmus selfie thread.

 

[Vin]

Nice work. I really like the first one but with a little trunk carving the last one is my favorite.

 

[sorce]

I'd work em all!

They all have some great qualities!

Sorce

 

[rockm]

Nice material. I've got a BIG cedar elm (three and a half feet tall) that I've had for 15 years or so. Excellent species to work with, underrated (and fully winter hardy here in No.Va under mulch. Mine has weathered -7 F a few winters after I got it and -4 this past winter. Didn't miss a beat.

 

[Ross]

Thanks guys. Hey Rockm I've got a couple of bigger ones as well and I'll try and get decent pics of them to post up soon. I can't move them by myself so it's tough to get a picture with a plain enough background.

 

[Giga]

Great trees, love the first one

 

[Ross]

Winter 2016 update :
So the tall skinny one from above was never cut out to be a great tree on it's own, so I've decided to group it with these other two to make a little 3-tree planting. I don't have a pot for them yet, so if I can't find one in the next couple weeks they may stay in the current pots for another year, or I may try and combine them into a slightly over-sized plastic training pot. They will need to be trimmed up, but I'll wait to see how they squeeze together. I'm also attaching an update picture of my first collected elm tree, collected winter of 2008 I believe and still needs work.

 

[JudyB]

Those 3 will make a nice start to a grouping. Do you have any plans on reducing the chop site on the big one? Maybe a slight change of front angle would help... not that you asked.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Looks great! Thanks for sharing. Missed the thread in July.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Hope in 5 years, my Elms can be good enough to share too.

 

[Ross]

Do you have any plans on reducing the chop site on the big one? Maybe a slight change of front angle would help... not that you asked.

Yes I think I can do a better job kinda carving down the 'rim' of the wound so the straight cut isn't so obvious from the front. In hindsight I should have used a sharper blade on it to begin with and carved it irregularly from the beginning, but at the time I didn't really know any better. Now I'm starting to learn how to use my die grinder a bit, so in the future I'll have another tool at my disposal. Thanks Judy.

 

[Ross]

Hope in 5 years, my Elms can be good enough to share too.

Well when they are, you can be proud of them knowing you took them from the ground and developed them into something worthy of sharing.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Yes I think I can do a better job kinda carving down the 'rim' of the wound so the straight cut isn't so obvious from the front. In hindsight I should have used a sharper blade on it to begin with and carved it irregularly from the beginning, but at the time I didn't really know any better. Now I'm starting to learn how to use my die grinder a bit, so in the future I'll have another tool at my disposal. Thanks Judy.

I would like to know more about the irregular carving that you speak of.

 

[Ross]

I would like to know more about the irregular carving that you speak of.

Well I'm still trying to learn how to use my dremel and die grinder, so I don't really know what I'm doing, but I probably should have gone ahead and carved it down a bit more naturally to begin with instead of just hollowing out the cut.

 

[Ross]

Update pics for a couple of these trees...

 

[sorce]

Love that group....

Even more of you rid yourself of that crossing branch.

Great placement.
Simple. Works.

Sorce

 

[rockm]

Well I'm still trying to learn how to use my dremel and die grinder, so I don't really know what I'm doing, but I probably should have gone ahead and carved it down a bit more naturally to begin with instead of just hollowing out the cut.

It's not really a matter of carving the top. It's growing out the leader. The transition between the trunk and the new leader has to be grown into. Carving the wound will make it look weirder, even if you know what you're doing. If this were mine, I'd let the leader go untouched for another year at least to gain some heft to more closely match the stump. Once that's done. Another chop, two inches or so higher, on the new leader sets up another new leader shoot. There are at least two chops that have to be made...

 

[Ross]

Which tree are we talking about Rock, the thicker one I posted on Feb. 14?

 

[Ross]

These three elms on the table got repotted this year. The single tree was sold along with 3 others to clear some space and cut down my watering time. I snapped a pic as he was loading it up, and I was kinda sad to see it go, but gotta keep moving forward with the "better" trees!